What’s on your mind?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
What’s on your mind?
cheesecake. [sniff]
oh, I am glad you asked.
After a long hiatus, the person who was once my best friend and I are trying to revive our friendship. I love her to death. I do. But she’s recently found some religion, and even though she is amazingly intellectual and gobs of fun, she no longer seems to be able to discuss anything other than religion! Oy. So at first I was a bit mad about it all, but now I am just worried that this obsessive behavior might be preceeding some kind of breakdown…
Anyway, that and I am dreading going home to my far-too-Catholic-and-Republican-than-I-care-to-think-about family for the holidays. Wondering if they are going to have a problem with my Amnesty International Holiday Cards…
That and I am a little upset that catnip is leaving but can’t say why.
That and I am wondering why I didn’t see Fitzgerald’s sex appeal earlier.
And that I am REALLY very glad it is clementine season!
Thanks, Boo, for letting me get that off my chest…
I lost a dear friend after this election. Due to this “election” …
My daughter is making window stats – a snowman outline and she’s gluing things on it for eyes, nose and such. Only thing on it is the word, “PEACE”. For the envelopes she allowed me to purchase a peace stamp and we bought magenta ink 🙂
Christmas has new meaning when you’ve opened your heart and soul out to care for the planet, to fight for humanity and to bring an end to war.
… it also means you’ve opened up the door to new friendships, poemless. xoxox
Yes, I am definately going with the “Peace” theme this year.
Most of the relationships I’ve had wrecked in the last 4 years seem to be coming back around. People agreeing to just be good to each other. I’ve found more of my voice (easy for me to spout off here, but not so much at the Thanksgiving dnner table, ya know?) and I get the feeling they are realizing the error of their ways.
The thing with this particular friend isn’t that we disagree on politics. We are basically on the same page. It’s the fact that I’d like to be able to have one conversation that Jesus has to sit out!
Anyway, thank for the kind words. 🙂
I think it was you wasn’t it who mentioned holiday cards yesterday? For anyone wanting to get cards that when you buy them contribute to a particular cause go to the hungarsite.com Depending on which you feel is most important each site there -Hungarsite, Literacy(which donates books), Breast cancer, Child health, Rainforest or Wildlife(humane society) will donate when you buy cards to that particular organization. And if you want to find fair trade and some wonderful ethnic presents that’s the place to go also. Anything bought there donates to the particular cause that site is involved in-literacy site for instance donates more books when you buy something from that site.
This website is also the click a day for free for each of these causes so you are donating with each daily click. This is the first place I go everyday after I log on before I do anything else. How can you lose, it’s costs you nothing but a minute or so of your time to help contribute daily to all these wonderful causes.
I also seem to having a complete brain meltdown today and can’t even remember how to put in a link and am was almost to embarrassed to even write that.
lot o’ stuff you got going there. Lot o’ idears floating round the ole noggin’.
That’s really just the beginning…
Like, right now, I am thinking about how f-ing cold I’m going to be on the way home.
What’s up with this?
Clinton in Dubai
I think I found my perfect job and sent my resume off to apply for it and haven’t heard back yet. It’s almost been a week. I really want to explore this job more. It would be a heavenly nexus of programming and Democratic politics.
Should I call next week if I haven’t heard from them? Or is that too pushy?
and I regularly receive calls to verify that resumes were rec’d. I think it shows assertiveness (a good thing). I say go for it!
Thanks Man. I’ll call on Monday AM.
It is perfectly fine to call and ask about the status of your application. Do it.
I didn’t want folks who skipped Kos yesterday to miss this little bit of perfection from the Denver Post. Says all there is to be said on the subject.
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catnip.
This fucking headache I have. I never get ’em. What’s up with that?
That the House Democrats (and some Reps) actually defeated the omnibus spending bill today. With a unanimous Democratic vote. That right there puts a smile on my face.
That the stupid web interface to our public library isn’t letting me put a hold on Hodgman’s “The Areas of My Expertise” for some reason…grr.
my thoughts are with Susan, Darcy, and Susan’s very ill mother and brother. It’s a tough time for the family.
Sorry to hear that. My thoughts go out to you Susan and family.
still think I’m crazy for sayin that “Official A” is the Big Dick himself? … ; )
If you think Ron Jememy is in on this, then you’re nuts.
Catnip,…
and I have to get a pet turtle today or my son will freak out. It’s actually hard to find them now in pet stores, not like when I was a kid and every store had hundreds of those tiny ones in the bowls with the palm trees. I called the store, they have 3 and are supposed to hold one for me. Wish me luck.
Woodward and consequences.
Amb. Wilson is on the ball, though.
Plame’s husband wants Post to probe Woodward
bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby, Hadley, Scottie Mc, Woodward, Delay, Ambromhoff, Frist…you know…the Liar’s Brigade.
Catnip:(
Torture, human rights, privacy rights, the constition, voter’s rights, Supreme Court nominees, lying pundits, the illegal occupation of Iraq, world hunger, world peace, George Clooney(ah, just wanted to see if you were paying attention).
Nothing much really.
Catnip, and dear friends who slip away and rarely reappear. Lorraine, Suskind, Infidelpig, Ghostdancer’s Way. Almost had to put the Bood on that list, but yippee – there he is.
So much on my mere mortal mind… but I hope I can focus on all the truly amazing friendships that are cultivated, cared for and created here in the Pond. Cripes I can’t even begin to list all who I now think about and care about on a daily basis. 🙂 I love you all! (gawd I sound like Dorothy returning from Oz)
Booman, thank you sharing the lilypad with us all.
Sending good vibes out to (((Suan and her loved ones))) I am truly sorry she is going through so much right now.
that I’m ashamed of my senators – Schumer and Clinton – who even at this late date can’t summon the backbone to say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.
American Faces Charge of Graft for Work in Iraq
An interesting article in the NY Times. Let the floodgates of corruption open… (again)
My friend and downstairs neighbor is having a head shaving party tonight. Tomorrow she stars chemo. About two or three weeks ago she was diagnosed with agressive breast cancer. After chemo, she then will go into surgery to remove one or both of her breasts, followed by radiation therapy. She has two boys, one of whom is only 8 or 9. The sad part is that the good news is that they will do chemo. If some of her tests had turned out differently, they wouldn’t have bothered trying to treat the cancer. So, tonight, I put on a happy face and take a lock of her hair to use in a healing ritual. If anyone can beat cancer, Judith can.
Best wishes to your friend and your happy face.
I will remember your friend in my prayers, I hope she will have a smooth and complete recovery.
In the meantime, depending on her personality and the skills of her friends, maybe she would like to try Mehendi.
Please forgive my ignorance – or perhaps my lack of attention to detail – but I visited the Mehendi site, and I failed to find anything regarding the situation at hand (no pun intended).
I’d appreciate your wisdom in sharing the relevance of Mehendi to the cancer of the poster’s friend.
Thank you, sir.
due to treatment (successful) for cancer, it was difficult for her because she had beautiful hair that she enjoyed arranging and adorning in elaborate and unique styles, so her sisters painted Mehendi designs on her hands, feet, and head. It looked very beautiful and improved her feelings.
What a lovely, thoughtful idea. Thank you for sharing it.
I’m so sorry to hear of your friend’s medical condition. For what it’s worth, my father-in-law was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, and the doctors gave him a life expectancy of three months. 20 months later – after 18 months of radical chemo and radiation treatments, we just found out last week that he’s in complete remission (and we couldn’t be more grateful).
It sounds as though your friend is surrounded by caring loved ones – including yourself – which is so critical for her during these difficult and terrifying times.
My thoughts are with you, and I pray for the well-being of your friend.
Bless you both
Jonah Goldberg, an idiotic jerk.
The above quote is by Jonah Goldberg and was published by the LA Times (tip: Hunter, front pager at Kos). Goldberg goes on to equate Bush’s lies to FDR’s handling of WWII, and to explain that it’s no big deal for a President to lie in great national interests. Since FDR has been out of power for some time now, I won’t respond to Goldberg’s lying blame as far back as the 1930s to Bush’s woes. But I do take great issue with the assertion that all Bush did was make a simple series of lies about the reasons to invade Iraq.
George Bush did more than lie about going to war with Iraq. He sent he United States to war when he knew that there was not a credible threat to the United States. The invasion of Iraq was a choice, an act of aggression. And Americans don’t support wars of choice and aggression, which is why Bush lied to America about his reasons for going to war.
It is a fact that Saddam Hussein did not pose an immediate threat to the United States at the time that Bush led our country to war. We know this because no nuclear weapons and no biological weapons programs were found. This means that the status quo was working. And it means that there was time to let the inspections and the sanctions continue to work.
At the time of the invasion, Bush’s White House made the following claims: (1) Saddam Hussein posed an immediate threat to the United States and its allies, and (2) the only available action was an invasion of Iraq. Bush claimed that the US invasion of Iraq was defensive and in line with UN mandates, despite the refusal by the UN to sanction the invasion. Bush made these claims before Congress in his State of the Union speech and then dispatched his Secretary of State to make the same claims before the UN. Powell asserted the United States had reliable and undisputable evidence the Saddam Hussein posed an immediate threat to the United States and the world, thereby justifying an invasion.
It is morally wrong for a more powerful nation to impose its will on other nations by brute force. Wars of aggression like ours with Iraq cause tens of thousands of civilian deaths, without any moral or legal basis or justification. The United States, along with the rest of the civilized world, have declared wars of aggression morally wrong in all cases. We’ve made these declarations the law of the land, and have tried the leaders of rouge nations such as World War II Germany for violating the principles of legal warfare. If these principles are followed, no state-against-state wars would exist, since the only justification for war is defense. Only aggressors are therefore to blame for the continuance of war. Bush has led the United States into becoming such an aggressor nation.
Bush has done more than lead the United States into the aggressive invasion and occupation of Iraq. He has sent a signal to the rest of the world: Arm or get invaded. But demonstrating America’s willingness to violate its own laws when it comes to warfare, Bush leaves other national leaders little option but to defend their interests by arming for defense. And since the United States is both a military and economic power unrivaled by even the other richest nations in the world, the world’s poorer nations will seek defense through the weapons of the weak: Terrorism, biological weapons and nuclear weapons.
Bush’s lie was not just about intelligence. It was more about the nature of the war itself. He claimed defense, when he meant offense. There are few Americans willing to give up American blood for anything other than the true defense of our nation. And Bush knows this, which is why he boldly lied to the Congress and the American people.
and (other than Richard Bruce Cheney who is rather openly a leaker to Woodward), a good case could be made for him being “Person A” in Woodward’s testimony.
Based on his behavioral history, he’s a strong candidate to be the man who cooked up the whole misinformation campaign regarding WMD, providing the much-needed justification for going to war against Iraq. Likewise, he’s leading the pack of possible wolf-men who encouraged sneering at the Geneva Conventions. And it’s hard to argue against him being the creature who fostered the “okay to torture” climate.
Regime change as foreign policy is his standard modus operandi, as in overthrowing Noriega in Panama; involvement in Iran-Contra, attempting to overthow the Sandanista government; attempting to overthrow Chavez in Venezuela.
His nasty political history is legendary; he’s a convicted liar; he doesn’t shirk personally breaking the law of the land as when he traveled to London under a nom de guerre to solicit $10M from the Sultan of Brunei to fund contra terrorists; he’s an ideologue Likkudist when it comes to Israel; he’s an ideologue neocon as well as a “made man” in the Jewish branch of the neocon oligarchy.
He’s experienced in “. . .defending death squads and dictators, denying massacres, lying about illegal U.S. activities. . .” as WaPo columnist Mary McGrory has said of Abrams. And as Adm. William Crowe Jr. said of him back in 1989, “This snake’s hard to kill.”
Giving Valerie Plame’s CIA identity to reporters in order to get revenge on a truth teller is just his line of work, though small change for a guy with his record.
He makes RBC look almost decent in comparison. I hope he reads this.
People crossing paths for a brief moment, only to fade away. 🙁
The circle of life.
Upcoming medical tests — hoping for the best, not daring to plan for the worst.
Hoping Keith O. will have someone good to skewer tonight — I need a reason to smile.
Spouse’s upcoming two-week plus vacation; there’s a reason to smile, but only if we actually get shit done around here.
And I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired…
Only know you through some comments of yours I have read, but I am really hoping you get good news from those test results! Thoughts and prayers are with you.
Cali, wishing you the best with your test results and hoping you have a peaceful, restful night. (As peaceful and restful as possible)
My thoughts are with you in hopes that all will be well.
Good night
I hope she is holding up. Can you convey our best wishes to her, Booman?
a replay of Rep. Murtha’s press conference from today calling for troop withdrawal, don’t miss it. There are parts that’ll make you stand up and cheer.
Got a light dusting of snow today! The hunters will love it–makes tracking easier. Can’t wait till we get more!!! Cross country skiing rules!
Reading political blogs is easier with a cat on my lap.
How did this country fall so far, so fast? I know that the answer is BushCo, tainted elections, and the far right, but…. (excuse me while I cuddle my cat)
Winter comes too early & leaves too late – 28° here and falling, snow flurries all day.
So far this year, I’ve knit 132 hats & 73 scarves that will be donated to local charities – that makes me feel warm even with out a hat & scarf.
I’m thankful for family & friends – they keep me going.